Amazon Prime Video’s navigation tools aren’t meant to be funny, but they really are a joke if you’re looking for the latest in stand-up comedy. Prime Video may not invest the same kind of resources in this category as its streaming rivals, but it could at the very least give comedy specials their own hub that’s easy to find and navigate. Instead, it takes a lot of blind searching and hoping for an optimum outcome before you can find the top stand-up comedy on Prime Video.
Fortunately, Garrett Gunderson and Nick Swardson both have recent comedy specials on Prime Video, and they have vastly different comedic styles and topics. Head-to-head, Gunderson’s special is the most intriguing because he finds a way to make serious financial topics funny and informative. You can find these specials and more by scrolling down to see the rest of the best stand-up comedy on Prime Video right now.
Looking for even more laughs? Check out our other streaming guides, including the best stand-up comedy on Netflix, as well as the best comedies on Amazon Prime and the best comedies on Hulu.
Need more recommendations? Then check out the best new shows to stream this week, as well as the best shows on Netflix, the best shows on Hulu, the best shows on Amazon Prime Video, the best shows on Max, and the best shows on Disney+.
Garrett Gunderson: The American Ream (2024)
Everybody has their own personal blend of comedy, but in his latest special, Garrett Gunderson’s angle is money, how it works, and why you’re not getting enough of it. Garrett Gunderson: The American Ream isn’t called The American Dream for a good reason. Nobody loves to be taken advantage of from behind, to say that as politely as possible.
Gunderson mines comedy from informative insights into retirement funds, Wall Street trading, and cryptocurrency. And if you find the picture he paints to be depressing, at least you can laugh at the jokes while he’s painting.
Nick Swardson: Make Joke from Face (2024)
Nick Swardson is getting older, so he’s taking some time to reflect on his life and some of his best diarrhea jokes. And if you don’t like scatological humor, then why would you watch Nick Swardson’s comedy in the first place? It’s kind of his thing.
It’s not like Swardson can’t have some heartfelt moments, as exemplified when he speaks about his late friend, Norm McDonald. But he’d rather make an audience laugh, and he especially seems to love getting himself to laugh along with the crowd as he relates some shared experiences that everyone goes through when they age.
Sam Morril: You've Changed (2024)
The name of Sam Morril’s latest comedy special, You’ve Changed, does get explained in the course of the hour, as one of his critics reemerges from the past… in shall we say a very different way. Morril’s argument is if they can change that much, then so can he. Morril also shares a string of texts from his ex that might be considered Baby Reindeer-adjacent, although it never quite goes as far as Netflix’s show.
Morril isn’t breaking new comedy ground by making jokes about his sex life, bad dating partners, or getting older. But he knows how to tell a story and how to take back command of the room whenever any hecklers try to get a word in edgewise.
Marlon Wayans: Good Grief (2024)
For his latest comedy special, Good Grief, Marlon Wayans mines the deaths of his parents for some dark humor. But you may not be prepared for the level of detail that Wayans goes into about taking care of his mother late in her life. There’s some deeply unsettling things he describes about her that simply aren’t funny.
The things that are funny are about Wayans’ upbringing, and his theory about why his father was a Jehovah’s Witness. However, the most profound part of this special is the way Wayans uses his humor to deal with not only his grief for his parents but all of the other people in his life that he’s lost as well.
Subhah Agarwal: Airport Pigeon (2024)
Subhah Agarwal has a way of letting the audience laugh with her and at her while describing her ongoing struggles with her mental health in her comedy special, Airport Pigeons. It’s particularly funny when she recounts how she’s been bullied by children as an adult, but she explains how it happens. She also finds a way to bring up Stephen Hawking’s love life and uses his own documented affairs to bring the humor out of his situation as well.
Joel McHale: Live from Pyongyang (2019)
Trevor Wallace: Pterodactyl (2023)
Kevin James: Irregardless (2024)
Hank Chen: I'm Not Supposed to Be Here (2023)
Russell Peters: Deported (2020)
4.5/10Nate Bargatze: Hello World (2023)
Zarna Garg: One in a Billion (2023)
Kellen Erskine: Zoomed Out (2022)
Sebastian Live (2009)
Sebastian Maniscalco is the kind of comedic talent who isn’t afraid to shine a light on the many idiosyncrasies of humanity, and if his stand-up special Sebastian LIVE is to be believed, our species has plenty of quirks to poke fun at.
the special was filmed at the prestigious Paramount Theatre in St. Louis, and if you’re in the mood for the kind of observational humor that will have you rolling around on the floor in laughter, look no further than Mr. Maniscalco.
Jim Gaffigan: Noble Ape (2018)
You don’t get into our comedy roundup twice unless you’re really funny, but it should come as no surprise that Jim Gaffigan gets a second shout-out. In his 2018 special Jim Gaffigan: Noble Ape, the renowned talent (he starred in the wonderful Linoleum earlier this year) gets a bit more personal, incorporating his wife’s harrowing run-in with cancer into the show.
It’s a bold decision on Gaffigan’s behalf, but it’s a mature call that serves to remind us that life may throw a million wrenches our way, but sometimes all we can do is snicker as the projectiles fly toward us.
Jim Breuer: And Laughter for All (2013)
Jim Breuer is an unchained force to be reckoned with in the outrageous 2013 stand-up special, Jim Breuer: And Laughter for All. Originally produced for Epix, Jim ditches the Goat Boy threads in favor of something a bit more rooted but equally off-the-charts.
Exploring topics of fatherhood, modern suburbia, and teen-year antics, Breuer’s approach may be unrelenting, but fans of his style know exactly what they’re signing up for.
George Carlin: Life Is Worth Losing (2005)
One of the O.G. titans of stand-up, the late-great George Carlin left far more than your traditional mark on the entertainment world. A constantly called-upon influence for today’s leading comic legends, the man’s talents are on full-display in George Carlin: Life is Worth Losing. Jam-packed with Carlin’s rapid-fire and astute commentary on the continually-crumbling Planet Earth, this humorously bleak eulogizing remains as relevant today as the maestro’s words were nearly 20 years ago.
Iain Stirling Failing Upwards (2022)
Cocoa Brown: Famous Enough (2022)
Eddie Izzard: Wunderbar (2021)
George Carlin: You Are All Diseased (1999)
8.5/10Jimmy O. Yang: Good Deal (2020)
Brad Williams: Daddy Issues (2016)
Rhys Darby: Mystic Time Bird (2021)
Andrew Santino: Home Field Advantage (2017)
Maria Bamford: Weakness Is the Brand (2020)
Josh Blue: Broccoli (2020)
Jayde Adams: Serious Black Jumper (2020)
Jim Gaffigan: Quality Time (2019)
